Exodus 23:32
New International Version
Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.

New Living Translation
“Make no treaties with them or their gods.

English Standard Version
You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

Berean Standard Bible
You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

King James Bible
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

New King James Version
You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

New American Standard Bible
You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

NASB 1995
“You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

NASB 1977
“You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

Legacy Standard Bible
You shall cut no covenant with them or with their gods.

Amplified Bible
You shall not make a covenant with them or with their gods.

Christian Standard Bible
You must not make a covenant with them or their gods.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You must not make a covenant with them or their gods.

American Standard Version
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

Contemporary English Version
But you must not make any agreements with them or with their gods.

English Revised Version
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Never make a treaty with them and their gods.

Good News Translation
Do not make any agreement with them or with their gods.

International Standard Version
You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods.

Majority Standard Bible
You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

NET Bible
"You must make no covenant with them or with their gods.

New Heart English Bible
You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

World English Bible
You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
You do not make a covenant with them and with their gods;

Young's Literal Translation
thou dost not make a covenant with them, and with their gods;

Smith's Literal Translation
Thou shalt not make a covenant with them and to their gods.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods.

Catholic Public Domain Version
You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor with their gods.

New American Bible
You shall not make a covenant with them or their gods.

New Revised Standard Version
You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their idols.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
You shall not cause a covenant to stand with them and with their idols.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thou shalt make no covenant with them and their gods.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Angel to Lead
31And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. 32You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. 33They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 7:2
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18
However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. / For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you, / so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.

Joshua 23:12-13
For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them, / know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.

Judges 2:2-3
and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done? / So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”

Psalm 106:34-36
They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, / but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. / They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.

Deuteronomy 12:2-3
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. / Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

Deuteronomy 31:16
And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

2 Kings 17:15
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

2 Chronicles 19:2
Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you.

Ezra 9:12
Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’

Nehemiah 9:2
Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

Isaiah 2:6
For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east; they are soothsayers like the Philistines; they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

Hosea 2:17
For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.

1 Corinthians 10:20-21
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. / You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? / What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? / What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ...


Treasury of Scripture

You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

shalt make

Exodus 34:12,15
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: …

Deuteronomy 7:2
And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Joshua 9:14-23
And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD…

nor with

Numbers 25:1,2
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab…

Deuteronomy 7:16
And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

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Agreement Covenant Gods
Exodus 23
1. Of slander, false witness, and partiality
4. Of charitableness
6. Of justice in judgment
8. Of taking bribes
9. Of oppressing a stranger
10. Of the year of rest
12. Of the Sabbath
13. Of idolatry
14. Of the three feasts
18. Of the blood and the fat of the sacrifice
20. An angel is promised, with a blessing, if they obey him














You shall make no covenant
This phrase is a direct command from God to the Israelites, emphasizing the importance of maintaining their distinct identity and faithfulness to Him. The Hebrew word for "covenant" is "בְּרִית" (berit), which signifies a binding agreement or treaty. In the ancient Near Eastern context, covenants were serious commitments often sealed with rituals or sacrifices. God's instruction here is to avoid forming alliances or agreements with the surrounding pagan nations, which could lead to idolatry and moral compromise. This command underscores the necessity of spiritual purity and allegiance to God alone.

with them
The pronoun "them" refers to the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, whom the Israelites were to dispossess. Historically, these peoples practiced idolatry and engaged in customs that were abominable to the Lord. By specifying "them," God is highlighting the particular danger these nations posed to the spiritual integrity of Israel. The Israelites were called to be a holy nation, set apart for God's purposes, and any covenant with these nations could lead to syncretism and a dilution of their faith.

or with their gods
This phrase extends the prohibition to include not just the people but also their deities. The Hebrew word for "gods" is "אֱלֹהִים" (elohim), which can refer to the true God or false gods, depending on the context. In this case, it refers to the idols worshiped by the Canaanites. The command is a safeguard against idolatry, which was a constant temptation for Israel. The worship of these gods often involved practices that were detestable to the Lord, such as child sacrifice and ritual prostitution. By forbidding covenants with these gods, God is protecting His people from spiritual adultery and ensuring their exclusive devotion to Him.

(32) Thou shalt make no covenant with them--i.e., no treaty of peace; no arrangement by which one part of the land shall be thine and another theirs. (Comp. Exodus 34:12.)

Nor with their gods.--It was customary at the time for treaties between nations to contain an acknowledgment by each of the other's gods. (See the treaty between Rameses II. And the Hittites in the Records of the Past, vol. iv., pp. 27-32.) Thus a treaty with a nation was a sort of treaty with its gods.

Verses 32, 33. - FINAL WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY. The "Book of the Covenant" ends as it began, with a solemn warning against idolatry. (See Exodus 20:23.) "Thou shalt make no covenant with them nor with their gods." Thou shalt not even suffer them to dwell side by side with thee in the land, on peaceable terms, with their own laws and religion, lest thou be ensnared thereby, and led to worship their idols and join in their unhallowed rites (ver. 33). The after history of the people of Israel shows the need of the warning. From the exodus to the captivity, every idolatry with which they came into close contact proved a sore temptation to them. As the author of Kings observes of the Ten Tribes" - The children of Israel did secretly those things which were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities... And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree; and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger; for they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, "Ye shall not do this thing" (2 Kings 17:9-12). Verse 32. - Thou shalt make no covenant with them. See below, Exodus 34:12-15. According to the forms usual at the time, a treaty of peace would have contained an acknowledgment of the gods of either nation, and words in honour of them. (See the "Treaty of Rameses II. with the Hittites," given in the Records of the Past, vol. 4. pp. 27-32.) This would have been equivalent to "making a covenant with their gods."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
You shall make
תִכְרֹ֥ת (ṯiḵ·rōṯ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

no
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

covenant
בְּרִֽית׃ (bə·rîṯ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1285: A covenant

with them
לָהֶ֛ם (lā·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

or with their gods.
וְלֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶ֖ם (wə·lê·lō·hê·hem)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative


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OT Law: Exodus 23:32 You shall make no covenant with them (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 23:31
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